Learn what the St. Cloud VA Health Care System can do for women veterans at a free event Saturday at the River's Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud.

The VA Women's Wellness Fair will feature live entertainment and vendors. It will include presentations on fly-fishing, mindful eating, aromatherapy, arts and crafts, yoga, karate, taekwondo and zumba.

"This is the first time the VA is hosting an event of this magnitude outside of the (St. Cloud VA) medical center," said Julie Roman Vera, women veterans program manager at the St. Cloud VA.

Among the goals of the St. Cloud VA Health Care System is to "change the culture to serve the growing population of women veterans," according to its website.

"We are holding this event because, in my experience, not a lot of women out there know we have services for women at the VA," Roman Vera said.

"And women — when they come back from being deployed overseas — they are usually the caregivers, so they take care of everybody else and then tend to take care of themselves last."

Wellness fair

The VA Women's Wellness Fair, which is for enrolled and non-enrolled women veterans, is sponsored by the Central Minnesota Community Foundation Women's Fund and Leighton Broadcasting.

"Since 2000 to 2010, the number of women using the services in the VA has increased by 80 percent, so previously not that many women were in the service," she said.

"Now that those numbers are growing, more women are becoming veterans and have been exposed to the same things their male counterparts have been exposed to during their time in service, such as PTSD and anxiety."

The VA Women's Wellness Fair also will feature a variety of health and wellness presentations and activities, including those provided by the VA and also by local health vendors, she said.

"We're taking the majority of those services that the VA offers to women and showcasing them at this event, so they will have the opportunity to meet the staff that provide the day-to-day care when they come to us," she said.

"The same services that we provide for our male veterans, we provide for female veterans, in addition to gender-specific services, so for women we may see reproductive health issues."

Scheduled activities

Massages, food sampling, fitness demonstrations, stress management and relaxation sessions, wellness checks and more are scheduled throughout the day.

And the popular Minnesota comedy-singing duo, "Tina & Lena," will entertain at 12:30 p.m. in Terry Haws Hall C.

"People can come and go as they please throughout the day," Roman Vera said. "But we will have wellness checks taking place the whole day, so that includes blood pressure, eyesight and hearing screenings."

Attendees are encouraged to bring a friend of either gender for support, or a "battle buddy," and more than 70 people as of Monday have signed up for the optional free lunch at the event, Roman Vera said.

"In the military, you always have another person with you ... and this would be a great opportunity for civilians to learn more about women veterans and the services we provide for them at the VA," she said.

Follow Frank Lee on Twitter @fclgannett.

If you go ...

What: VA Women's Wellness Fair.

Who: Organized by the

St. Cloud VA Health Care System.

When: 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Where: River's Edge Convention Center, 10 Fourth Ave. S, St. Cloud.

Cost: Free, no registration required. (RSVP required only for the optional free lunch.)